Our Story

Every stone has its own unique physical, chemical and optical characteristics being sourced from a different geological location. These watches are one-of-a-kind as every face cut from the stone will have its own graining, nuance and marbling.

The name Plug & Feather refers to an ancient tool used by stonemasons to split stone into more precise pieces to be used in tools and jewelry. We strive to achieve the same level of precision and craftsmanship for all watches produced by our company.

How We Do It

The process of milling the stone into the precise requirements necessary to fit into the face of the watch was a challenging task.

After considerable effort in research and prototyping, we were eventually able to hone and perfect a solution that allowed us to build a stable and beautiful watch. Our proprietary process, StoneStable, is revolutionizing the way this type of watch is made.

Cloud Jasper

Cloud Jasper's impurities give it the unique milky white, marbling effect seen in the stone.

Sodalite

Sodalite is a rich, royal blue stone named for its high sodium content.

Carnelian

Carnelian stone has a rich history, with its earliest uses dating back to 1800 BC.

Our Process

I’d look at one of my stonecutters hammering away at the rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet, at the hundred and first blow it would split in two, and I knew it was not that blow that did it, but the hundred that had gone before.”
— Jacob August Riis, Social Reformer

Stone is considered a "strong" material as it resists compression (crushing) , tension (pulling apart) and torsion (bending). However, the stone faces for our initial prototypes would sometimes break into pieces (poor torsional load resistance) as we began to mill the stone faces into the dimensions necessary for the watch. We needed to build a solution to this problem to ensure stability of the stones in the watches.

The team at Plug & Feather spent many months working with our manufacturing partner to develop an innovative manufacturing solution to this issue. We call this solution StoneStable.

Using StoneStable, we etch a set of grid-lines onto the back of our stone faces. We then apply a bonding agent to the etched side and apply an alloy disc to the top of the bonding agent. The result is a stone face that is now much stronger in all directions of load. We include this technology in every watch, providing it with highly increased durability.

KICKSTARTER

Top 1% of Funded Fashion Projects in Kickstarter. In December 2014 we launched a Kickstarter project that eventually almost doubled its goal. Now that we've finished that, we've moved onto bigger things. We've launched our retail store to allow everyone to purchase our watches.